Sony Enlists DDoS Defense Firm to Combat Hackers

April 5, 2011
Written by Sebastian Moss

Earlier in the week, a part of the hacking collective Anonymous declared war on Sony and brought down several of the company’s sites as well as the PlayStation Network. By using a form of a DDoS attack, the group temporarily crippled Sony’s online infrastructure, but now Sony is fighting back, recruiting a specialist firm that has successfully thwarted Anonymous’ attempts.

Anti-DDoS specialists, Prolexic Technologies were brought on by Sony to stop the mass attack of the site’s servers:

Prolexic has been fighting DDoS attacks and developing “best of breed” practices and a massive global network for over 7 years. Our experience is simply unmatched.

Prolexic’s services provide online businesses with the most advanced protection available against DDoS attacks and malicious botnet activity.

Speaking on the Anonymous IRC, several members expressed their frustration at the new defenses, which have (mostly) managed to stop the sites being taken down:

prolexic is holding up

…i doubt we can ddos prolexic

…you wont kill prolexic with l**c

…it’s getting harder to ddos store.ps.com

Of course, while Sony and Prolexic have gained the upper-hand at the moment, the tide could quickly turn back in the hacker’s favor, with some of them working on either bringing down the company’s site, or defacing it (replacing the site or a site page with their own), with users saying:

its be easier to deface their site lol

and that would still be hard

…they slipped up somewhere i bet

PSLS will continue to keep you updated on the ongoing Anonymous vs Sony situation as it develops.